Earlier this year, I began to compile & organize these notes & axioms into a single document. Ideally I would like to eventually have a notebook that I could add to each offseason and look at again each pre-season as I reevaluate my program. I thought that as part of this blog and my compilation efforts, I would share some of the things that I've found.
These are quotes about coaches, quotes from coaches about their influences, and outside observations on coaches and their programs. Some of these are Hall of Fame coaches, some have losing records, and some are career assistants; all have good things to offer.
How about some nuggets from Joe Gibbs & John Madden:
JOHN
MADDEN
·
From Don Coryell: Successful coaches are
able to take everything they must teach and grind it down to a common
denominator where it is understood by the most intelligent and the least
intelligent.
·
In preparing for a class, a teacher has to
be organized. Once in the classroom, a teacher has to get the students to
settle down, to pay attention, to understand. After you teach, you discuss and
then you test. Coaching football is basically the same thing. You teach in the
meetings. You discuss on the practice field. You test in the game.
·
I learned that one of the most important
tenets of teaching is repetition. Tell the class over and over what you want it
to learn. As a coach, I applied that same principle. Show the players the play
on paper. Show it to them on film. And show it to them on the field.
·
No matter how quick a cornerback was, I
never wanted him to line up more than 7 yards off the wide receiver. In
training camp, I never let them line up more than 5 yards off their man. That
way, it forced them to cover tight & short. When a corner was more than 7
yards off his man, I always felt that he tended to sit back and wait for
something to happen, rather than reacting to something that was happening.
·
If it’s something that they don’t know,
they can’t teach it. If it’s something that’s been stuffed down their throats,
they really can’t teach it either.
·
If you throw on the break or before the
break, you get interceptions. We throw after the break, two steps after the
receiver has made his cut. That receiver usually has an option between 12 and
18 yards on the cut and we want to make sure he has somebody beat before our quarterbacks
release that ball.
·
You’ve got to start by being able to do
things the hard way. That means being able to cover man to man, to take on
blocks and defeat them. Then you move on to the more sophisticated movements –
the stunts, zones, multiplicity of pass coverage, situation substitution and so
on. But all of those are no good unless you can whip someone one on one.
JOE
GIBBS
·
I believe that picking the right people is
the single most important thing a coach can do. If you pick sharp, highly motivated
people, you’re going to be successful.
·
We run the same play from 30 different
formations, because I believe that repetition is the key to success, and
because I am convinced that defense is based on recognition of formations.
·
A winning effort begins with preparation.
The game may be played on Sunday, but it’s won on the practice field during the
week, in the meeting rooms (where the coaches and players prepare the game
plan) and in the weight room, where the best players do a few extra
repetitions.
·
To be a good coach, you must be a good
teacher. You not only have to possess the knowledge, but you must also be able
to get it across. You give it to the players visually, on film, written on the
board, and on the field.
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